The American Frugal Housewife eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 162 pages of information about The American Frugal Housewife.

The American Frugal Housewife eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 162 pages of information about The American Frugal Housewife.

A cake of common gingerbread can be stirred up very quick in the following way.  Rub in a bit of shortening as big as an egg into a pint of flour; if you use lard, add a little salt; two or three great spoonfuls of ginger; one cup of molasses, one cup and a half of cider, and a great spoonful of dissolved pearlash, put together and poured into the shortened flour while it is foaming; to be put in the oven in a minute.  It ought to be just thick enough to pour into the pans with difficulty; if these proportions make it too thin, use less liquid the next time you try.  Bake about twenty minutes.

If by carelessness you let a piece of short-cake dough grow sour, put in a little pearlash and water, warm a little butter, according to the size of the dough, knead in a cup or two of sugar, (two cups, unless it is a very small bit,) two or three spoonfuls of ginger, and a little rose-water Knead it up thoroughly, roll it out on a flat pan, and bake it twenty minutes.  Every thing mixed with pearlash should be put in the oven immediately.

CUP CAKE.

Cup cake is about as good as pound cake, and is cheaper.  One cup of butter, two cups of sugar, three cups of flour, and four eggs, well beat together, and baked in pans or cups.  Bake twenty minutes, and no more.

TEA CAKE.

There is a kind of tea cake still cheaper.  Three cups of sugar, three eggs, one cup of butter, one cup of milk, a spoonful of dissolved pearlash, and four cups of flour, well beat up.  If it is so stiff it will not stir easily, add a little more milk.

CIDER CAKE.

Cider cake is very good, to be baked in small loaves.  One pound and a half of flour, half a pound of sugar, quarter of a pound of butter, half a pint of cider, one teaspoonful of pearlash; spice to your taste.  Bake till it turns easily in the pans.  I should think about half an hour.

ELECTION CAKE.

Old-fashioned election cake is made of four pounds of flour; three quarters of a pound of butter; four eggs; one pound of sugar; one pound of currants, or raisins if you choose; half a pint of good yeast; wet it with milk as soft as it can be and be moulded on a board.  Set to rise over night in winter; in warm weather, three hours is usually enough for it to rise.  A loaf, the size of common flour bread, should bake three quarters of an hour.

SPONGE CAKE.

The nicest way to make sponge cake, or diet-bread, is the weight of six eggs in sugar, the weight of four eggs in flour, a little rose-water.  The whites and yolks should be beaten thoroughly and separately.  The eggs and sugar should be well beaten together; but after the flour is sprinkled, it should not be stirred a moment longer than is necessary to mix it well; it should be poured into the pan, and got into the oven with all possible expedition.  Twenty minutes is about long enough to bake.  Not to be put in till some other articles have taken off the first few minutes of furious heat.

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The American Frugal Housewife from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.